Eye of the Storm (Swaragini FF)

Chapter 10

"Swara" Sanskar said softly as he moved closer towards her on the bed. He held her face in his palms, wiping her tears with his thumbs "Swara, I am okay. Nothing has happened to me. Please look at me"

Swara didn't react to him however. She was trapped in her own private hell. A hell where she was surrounded by darkness, screaming her lungs out calling Sanskar's name and begging for death for herself. Yet, unknown to her, physically, she had gone mute. There wasn't a single sound that left her mouth. Sanskar's calls in the real world, were getting drowned by her screams in her mind.

Sanskar tried to lift her face and get her to look at him, to see his face, to understand the reality but she wasn't responding. He was scared, actually beyond scared. He too had tears streaming down his face, worried about her, about losing her to this shock that she had gone into. He pulled her into a tight embrace constantly talking to her, asking her to return to him.

In Swara's mind, a warmth enveloped her as Sanskar held her. His voice, his touch, his fragrance all creating a cocoon for her for a few minutes, enough for small strands of Sanskar's voice to reach her conscious and quieten her screams for a second. It brought a change in her and in the catatonic state that she had been for the past hour. She took a painful breath and closed her eyes as sobs wreaked through her body.

"Swara, I am alive and in front of me. Please Swara, don't cry" Sanskar pleaded but it didn't stop her. The magnitude of the pain she had experienced wasn't one that could be stopped just that easily. Sanskar held on to her tightly and continued to whisper in her ears, letting her know that he was there with her, letting the message sink in. After a while when her sobs, lessened a bit, he pulled her away slightly and lifted her face. He wanted her to look at him, to see the reality. He could not see her broken like this, worse, he couldn't let himself be the reason for her state. He knew that he needed to distract her. He wanted to pull her out of this and make smile again.

"Swara, I am okay. Please don't cry. If you cry anymore, Naari Mukti Sangathan will come and put me in jail for making you cry"

She lifted her head, looked at him for a second and then started hitting him

"Swara, you have gone from 'bholi bhaali' to 'hunter-wali' now. Stop hitting me so much. I will need protection from Mard Bhachao Angolan otherwise"

"hawwahhh Sanskar" Swara responded affronted, her eyes still red from the tears that hadn't completely stopped yet.

"If you keep hitting me like this, I will need the protection"

"Sanskar, Shut up! No one is going to protect you from me. I am your wife and you have to pay for what you put me through. Do you realize what I went through when they told me that you...." She started breaking down again

"Swara....Swara, hey, look at me" he said holding her face gently in his palms again "I am really sorry. I didn't wish to put you through this. In fact, I wanted to get home as soon as I could, that is why I took an earlier flight. I wanted to surprise everyone by coming home early, that was the reason why I didn't call ahead of time to inform about this change. You know I cannot see you cry. Please don't cry. It kills me to see you...."

She cut him off placing her hand on his lips "Sanskar...don't! don't ever talk of dying again. I wont be able to take it. I cannot imagine my life without you in it. I cannot function or exist without you. I love you, Sanskar. I love you more than life itself"

"Swara" he whispered, unsure if what he had heard was real or a figment of his wishful thinking

"It is true Sanskar, every single word of it. It was only after you left that I realized what you mean to me. It was then that I realized that you are the only one in my heart and in my soul. It was then that I realized that my life begins and ends with you"

Sanskar rested his forehead against hers and looked into her eyes "I love you too Swara. I love you so much. You don't know how much I have yearned, prayed, hoped, wished to hear you say this. You are my life too Swara. You are the reason for my happiness."

He hugged her tightly to him "Now that I have you Swara, I am never letting you go"

The morning rays sneaked in through the curtains in their room. Sanskar stirred a bit, waking Swara up, by his movement. She gently rubbed her eyes and opened them to realize it was already morning. She looked at the face of her husband. It had been two weeks since that frightful day, and things had taken a turn for the best. The incident still scared her a bit and she had had nightmares during the first couple of days, but each time Sanskar had been right there by her side, holding her, showering her with gentle kisses and with his soothing words until she calmed down.

She had never imagined married life would be so blissful for her, but may be, it was just that with the right person in her life, happiness could no longer play hide and seek with her. She had known that Sanskar was wonderful and loved her a lot, what she hadn't realized was that he was a romantic to the core. There had also been times when he had been quite naughty as well, on more occasions than one, he had left her blushing like crazy in front of the family as he had slyly given her a peck on the cheek, when they were surrounded by family, when no one was looking. Even now, thinking about their moments together made her blush. She had realized quite a few other things about him as well – that he loved to cuddle together each night as they fell asleep, that his fingers would always find a way touch her or intertwine with hers whenever they were close to each other, that he could easily be made to lose focus when he saw her bite her lips.

Sanskar stirred again in his sleep muttering her name and pulling her closer.

"Sanskar" she whispered, giving him a soft peck on the cheek as he pulled her closer "It's morning"

"Hmm...I don't care" he mumbled hugging her closer

"Sanskar...Mom might come in" she added with a deep blush growing on her cheeks.

It had happened just a week back. They had slept in till a bit late. Sanskar's mom had knocked on their door loudly, hailing them, worried that something might have happened to her son. They had been left scrambling trying to get decent before they let her in. All three of them had been left pretty embarrassed by that incident. They had been fortunate that they had remembered to lock their door properly before heading for bed. There had been an implicit understanding that the three of them would never speak about it again, but their interaction had been awkward for the next couple of days after it.

Sanskar's eyes snapped open at her comment. He glanced at the door once. After reconfirming that there was no one outside, he rolled them around so that he was on top.

"Swara, that wasn't very nice...and you know I cannot let you go without a payback" his eyes shined with the mischief as he went closer to her.